Debt Relief Bill – Saving Grace Or Burden?

The National Credit Amendment Bill, known as the Debt Relief Bill, was recently signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa. At face value, given the debt rates in South Africa, the new Bill seems to be a welcome relief to the thousands of people with seemingly unending debt.

The Debt Relief Bill, as its name suggests, aims to provide relief to over-indebted South Africans by restructuring their debt if they meet certain requirements.

Requirements to qualify for relief are as follows:

• Where the unsecured debt is not more than R50,000;
• Where the unsecured debt was accrued through unsecured credit agreements, unsecured short term credit transactions or unsecured credit facilities only; and